Written Answers Friday 17 March 2006

Scottish Executive

Adult Services

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is aware of research carried out by the Institute of Health Research at Lancaster University, on behalf of the Department of Health, on future need and demand for supported accommodation for people with learning disabilities in England; whether any similar research has been carried out in Scotland, and whether the Scottish Executive has given any consideration to commissioning such research.

Lewis Macdonald: The Scottish Executive is aware of the research on future needs and demand for supported accommodation for people with learning disabilities in England, by Eric Emerson. We do not consider there is a need for similar research in Scotland but we will take account of the findings of the Emerson paper when considering future funding of supported accommodation for people with learning disabilities in the next spending review.

Adult Services

Linda Fabiani (Central Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it has received a copy of the report by Lucy Johnston and Mike Martin, for South Lanarkshire Council’s Social Work Resources’ Adult Services, Older Family Carers and Learning Disabled Adults Cared for at Home: their views , experiences and thoughts on future care, and, if so, when the report was received and whether a response has been made to South Lanarkshire Council.

Lewis Macdonald: The Scottish Executive has received the report by Lucy Johnston and Mike Martin: Older family carers and learning disabled adults cared for at home commissioned by South Lanarkshire Council’s Social Work Services. The report, received on 28 February 2006, aims to inform future planning and service delivery in the council area and does not seek a Scottish Executive response.

Air Services

Jim Mather (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what analysis has been made of the impact on the local economy of the use of a public service obligation incorporating reduced fares on the air route from Glasgow to Barra.

Tavish Scott: A comprehensive study on the future of air services to and from Barra, including the anticipated economic impacts of any changes to the current Public Service Obligation (PSO) provision, was undertaken by Halcrow Group Ltd, on behalf of the Scottish Executive, ahead of the requirement to re-tender the PSO route between Glasgow International Airport and Barra from April 2006.

  Highlands and Islands Enterprise and HITRANS have also undertaken their own evaluation of the impact of reduced fare levels on air services between Glasgow International Airport and Barra, Campbeltown and Tiree.

Avian Influenza

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will discuss with the UK Government plans for restrictions on the imports of all poultry and poultry products from countries where there have been confirmed cases of avian flu.

Ross Finnie: The Scottish Executive is in regular contact with the UK Government on a wide range of issues relating to the control and prevention of avian influenza. These discussions have supported the development of a UK position for consideration of trade rules with the European Commission. The current position is that no trade from infected areas is permitted.

Bridges

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive what its response will be to any future proposals for road user charging brought forward by the Forth Estuary Transport Authority under the terms of the Transport (Scotland) Act 2001, in light of the Minister for Transport and Telecommunication’s statement that "Before any toll increase is introduced on the Forth bridge, travellers need to see the completion of visible improvements" ( Official Report c. 23596).

Tavish Scott: It would be inappropriate to speculate on proposals that have not been made.

  Any such proposals would be considered in light of the statement I made to Parliament on 1 March 2006.

Concessionary Travel

Dr Jean Turner (Strathkelvin and Bearsden) (Ind): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the smart card system to be employed as part of the new concessionary travel scheme will be used solely for travel purposes or whether it will be a multifunctional card.

Tavish Scott: The National Entitlement Card (smartcard) currently being developed by the Improvement Service, which includes a transport application for the new concessionary scheme, is a multifunctional card. Each local authority can decide which multi applications can be used with the card.

Concessionary Travel

Jim Mather (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will extend the concessionary travel scheme for pensioners and disabled island residents to include air travel as well as travel by Caledonian MacBrayne ferries, in light of the proposed introduction of aid of a social character to assist with the cost of flights to the islands.

Tavish Scott: The Scotland-wide free bus scheme will fully deliver the Partnership Agreement commitment on national concessionary travel for older and disabled people. There are no current plans to extend the scheme to other forms of public transport. The aid of a social character scheme, which I announced on 13 February 2006 and which offers eligible residents reductions on internal air fares within Scotland, applies only to air travel.

Concessionary Travel

Jim Mather (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is able to offer concessionary travel resulting in free journeys for pensioners and disabled residents of islands on flights supported by public service obligations in the same way as it can for ferry travel and, if so, when it will introduce such a measure.

Tavish Scott: Public service obligations provide a framework within which fare levels, including free fares, on public transport may be determined. However, there are no current plans to extend concessionary travel to forms of public transport other than bus. The two free return ferry journeys per year to the mainland announced for older and disabled islanders is to help eligible islanders in all parts of Scotland to access the free bus scheme. The aid of a social character scheme, which I announced on 13 February 2006, offers eligible residents of Shetland, Orkney, the Western Isles, Islay and Jura and Caithness reductions on internal air fares within Scotland.

Crofting Reform Bill

Rob Gibson (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether, in advance of the publication of the Crofting Reform Bill, it will respond in detail to comments made in submissions by many respondents to the recent consultation that do not directly answer the set questions.

Rhona Brankin: It would be impractical to respond in detail to every individual response to a consultation. We do consider all responses that we receive and did try to address these views within the analysis of the consultation and the final bill.

  All respondents receive an acknowledgement letter outlining what will happen after the consultation period of twelve weeks has ended. All parties who were invited to respond to a consultation, all respondents, and all other interested parties receive a copy of the analysis of the consultation and a copy of the final consultation report. Furthermore, all consultation reports are placed on the Scottish Executive website. The report into the consultation of the draft Crofting Reform Bill is available at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/10/2790312/03134.

  Where an individual respondent does seek a response in detail to his or her comments, we will endeavour to respond.

Crown Estate

John Farquhar Munro (Ross, Skye and Inverness West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive under what circumstances Scottish ministers can transfer the ownership of land or seabed managed by the Crown Estate Commissioners.

Ross Finnie: I refer the member to the answers to questions S2W-22827 and S2W-22828 on 28 February 2006. The Scottish ministers do not have any wider powers to transfer the ownership of land or seabed managed by the Crown Estate.

  All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Crown Estate

John Farquhar Munro (Ross, Skye and Inverness West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether Scottish ministers have the authority to compulsorily purchase areas of the seabed from the Crown Estate or Crown Estate Commissioners in order to progress the development of renewable energy projects.

Ross Finnie: I refer the member to the answers to questions S2W-22827 and S2W-22828 on 28 February 2006. The Scottish ministers do not have the authority to compulsorily purchase areas of the seabed from the Crown Estate or Crown Estate Commissioners in order to progress the development of renewable energy projects.

  All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search.

Crown Estate

John Farquhar Munro (Ross, Skye and Inverness West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether Scottish ministers have the authority to transfer the ownership of areas of the seabed from the Crown Estate or Crown Estate Commissioners in order to develop renewable energy projects.

John Farquhar Munro (Ross, Skye and Inverness West) (LD): To ask the Scottish Executive whether Scottish ministers have the authority to transfer the ownership of areas of the seabed from the Crown Estate or Crown Estate Commissioners contiguous to local communities in order to further the Executive’s objectives in respect of land reform.

Ross Finnie: I refer the member to the answer question S2W-23787 on 14 March 2006. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

Energy Efficiency

Fergus Ewing (Inverness East, Nairn and Lochaber) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what advice it has received from the Scottish Environment Protection Agency (SEPA) regarding the scheme of charges to be payable to SEPA in respect of energy schemes; whether it will publish that advice and what the reasons are for its position on the matter; whether it has been advised by SEPA that the initial scale of charges suggested by SEPA would make smaller-scale schemes, such as that proposed for the River Gynack, Kingussie, a hydro scheme, non-viable because of costs payable to SEPA; whether will meet any MSP who has a constituency interest in this matter before making any decision, and when a decision is expected or planned to be made.

Rhona Brankin: The Scottish Executive is currently considering the Scottish Environment Protection Agency’s (SEPA) response to its consultation on the Water Environment charging scheme. The consultation resulted in a significant number of responses, including one from Kingussie Development Company, which detailed the impact of SEPA’s proposal on their industry. Due to the complexity of the scheme, it has taken longer than anticipated to consider a number of amendments proposed by SEPA, including one that acknowledges the importance of small scale hydropower in the development of renewable sources of energy. As I expect a formal announcement to be made very shortly, I do not consider a meeting at this stage to be appropriate.

Fuel Poverty

Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many households are currently in fuel poverty and how many it estimates will be in fuel poverty in (a) 2007 and (b) 2008.

Malcolm Chisholm: This information is not available. The most up-to-date estimates of fuel poverty available are for 2003-04. These will be published on 31 March 2006.

Housing

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-23104 by Malcolm Chisholm on 6 March 2006, whether it expects the trend of rising home ownership to continue for the next 10 years and what its assessment is in figures of the likely growth over the next 20 years.

Malcolm Chisholm: Yes, the Executive expects the level of home ownership will continue to increase over the next 10 years. As I stated in my earlier reply future levels of home ownership will depend on a wide range of factors. There is too much uncertainty in these factors to provide a reliable estimate of changes in owner occupation over the next 20 years.

Justice

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) retailers and (b) licensees have been prosecuted for selling alcohol to under age customers in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.

Cathy Jamieson: The available information is given in the following table. No breakdown of these figures into prosecutions of retailers and licensees is available from the data held centrally. The court proceedings statistics for 2004-05 are planned for publication in spring 2006.

  Persons Proceeded Against for Selling Alcohol to Persons Under 181, by Local Authority Area 1999-2003

  

 Local Authority Area
 1999
 2000
 2001
 2002
 20032


 Aberdeen City 
 2
 3
 -
 3
 4


 Aberdeenshire 
 4
 4
 1
 2
 -


 Angus 
 2
 -
 1
 -
 2


 Argyll and Bute 
 1
 1
 -
 1
 -


 Clackmannanshire 
 -
 4
 -
 -
 -


 Dumfries and Galloway
 3
 -
 -
 -
 2


 Dundee City 
 2
 2
 2
 3
 1


 East Ayrshire 
 2
 3
 3
 2
 9


 East Dunbartonshire
 -
 -
 1
 -
 -


 East Lothian 
 -
 1
 3
 -
 -


 East Renfrewshire 
 -
 -
 1
 -
 -


 Edinburgh, City of 
 1
 2
 3
 6
 4


 Falkirk 
 2
 2
 3
 4
 4


 Fife 
 1
 8
 2
 -
 5


 Glasgow City 
 3
 14
 8
 4
 4


 Highland 
 1
 3
 2
 2
 -


 Inverclyde 
 -
 -
 1
 -
 -


 Midlothian 
 -
 1
 1
 -
 -


 Moray 
 1
 -
 2
 -
 1


 North Ayrshire 
 5
 -
 -
 1
 3


 Orkney Islands 
 -
 -
 -
 -
 1


 Perth and Kinross 
 13
 1
 -
 1
 -


 Renfrewshire 
 -
 -
 2
 -
 6


 Scottish Borders 
 3
 2
 3
 5
 -


 Shetland Islands 
 -
 1
 -
 1
 -


 South Ayrshire 
 1
 2
 5
 4
 -


 South Lanarkshire 
 8
 5
 4
 4
 -


 Stirling 
 1
 -
 -
 1
 2


 West Dunbartonshire
 2
 2
 -
 -
 2


 West Lothian 
 -
 1
 -
 -
 -


 Scotland
 58
 62
 48
 44
 50



  Notes:

  1. Where main offence.

  2. Includes estimated data.

Local Government

Mr David Davidson (North East Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will publish any proposals it has for the amalgamation of local authorities.

Mr Tom McCabe: We have no current proposals for the amalgamation of local authorities.

Local Government Pension Scheme

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive what stage negotiations with trades unions have reached in respect of the Rule of 85 for current members of the Scottish local government pension scheme.

Mr Tom McCabe: Discussions on the plan to remove the rule of 85 from the Local Government Pension scheme are continuing and the Executive is considering options for a solution to this issue in Scotland. The draft Regulations proposed to implement the changes will be published for consultation once discussions have concluded. However, the recent action initiated by UNISON to seek a Judicial Review of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister’s decision to remove the rule of 85 in England and Wales is likely to delay matters. The recent decision by local government unions to take industrial action throughout the UK on 28 March does not undermine our commitment to secure a negotiated solution.

NHS Finance

Rob Gibson (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the Minister for Health and Community Care will meet me to discuss the financial and clinical governance of NHS Western Isles and, if so, when.

Mr Andy Kerr: Officials in the Health Department are in close touch with the board, including the chair and the Chief Executive. I know from the annual review meeting with the board last September, and from regular updates I receive, that NHS Western Isles is working hard to address a range of clinical and managerial issues. I have made clear to the board that I attach a great deal of importance to sound financial management and sustainable financial balance, in support of high quality, sustainable clinical services. I expect the board’s assurances on these matters to be delivered.

  I am clear that NHS Western Isles has further to go in addressing the challenges it faces. I and the Health Department will continue to support the board to make progress, and to monitor its performance. Progress has been made on a number of service issues over the last year or so that demonstrates the commitment of the NHS board to sustain and develop clinical services for the benefit of all the residents of the islands.

  The key actions and decisions needed to keep health care services moving forward in the Western Isles will be taken by the board and its dedicated staff, supported by the community they serve.

  Against that background, I do not believe that a meeting would be productive.

Nursing and Midwifery

Fiona Hyslop (Lothians) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it is undertaking research to assess the incomes, expenditures and debt of students studying nursing or midwifery.

Mr Andy Kerr: We have no plans to undertake research to assess the incomes, expenditures and debt of students studying nursing and midwifery.

  However, under the banner of Facing the Future we have set up a sub-group to look at student retention. This group will consider whether further research needs to be commissioned into the issues surrounding the student experience.

Prime Minister

Miss Annabel Goldie (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list each date on which the First Minister has met the Prime Minister since June 1999.

Mr Tom McCabe: The First Minister and the Prime Minister have met regularly to discuss a wide range of issues.

Rail Services

Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what requirements there are in respect of passenger limits within the First ScotRail franchise; what the reasons are for the position on this matter, given that other forms of public transport have such limits, and, if there are no such requirements, whether it now plans to include them in the franchise.

Tavish Scott: There are no specific limits on passenger loads for trains. Carriages are designed to rigorous safety standards and standing on a train is not seen as a significant safety risk in its own right.

  Current and anticipated passenger loadings are not considered to be a significant safety issue, therefore the Scottish Executive does not have any plans to impose additional requirements over and above the existing measures First ScotRail take to manage them.

Rail Services

Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether any audits of overcrowding are carried out on heavily used First ScotRail routes, such as Edinburgh to Glasgow, the Fife Circle and Dundee routes, at peak commuter times and other peak times, such as Edinburgh Festival Saturday nights, Hogmanay and the days of Murrayfield fixtures.

Tavish Scott: There are a number of measures of capacity performance and First ScotRail conduct regular surveys and measures of passenger loadings. This is used to allow the optimal allocation of train resources and First ScotRail are measured against delivery of the plan in terms of capacity.

Rail Services

Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what discussions it has had with the Health and Safety Executive on whether overcrowding on First ScotRail trains is a breach of health and safety regulations.

Tavish Scott: No formal discussions have taken place between the Scottish Executive and the Health and Safety Executive on this topic as First ScotRail are not considered to be in breach of health and safety regulations on this issue.

Road Signs

Christine Grahame (South of Scotland) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what central funding is available to either local authorities or the police for speed restriction signs such as mobile "smiley face" signs.

Tavish Scott: The Scottish Executive provides local authorities with revenue and capital allocations for expenditure on a number of services, including roads and transport, which can be used for the provision of traffic signs, including speed limit signs.

  Local authorities are receiving specific funding, totalling nearly £50 million between 2003 and 2008, for 20mph schemes around schools and related safety projects, including the signing required for such schemes.

Secretary of State for Scotland

Miss Annabel Goldie (West of Scotland) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive whether it will list each date on which the First Minister has met the Secretary of State for Scotland since June 1999.

Mr Tom McCabe: The First Minister and the Secretary of State for Scotland have met regularly to discuss a wide range of issues.

Sexual Health

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-23289 by Mr Andy Kerr on 28 February 2006, how many NHS boards have implemented Respect and Responsibility.

Mr Andy Kerr: I expect all NHS boards to implement the national strategy. The action plan which accompanies the strategy sets out what needs to be done and by whom, including a number of actions for NHS boards to take forward.

  Each board has identified an executive director who is responsible for sexual health and wellbeing and lead clinicians have been appointed to drive forward the practical plan for action, which is part of the strategy.

  The Executive has received interim and final clinical service plans from each NHS board. Local inter-agency sexual health strategies developed in partnership between NHS boards, local authorities, the voluntary sector and other key stakeholders have also been received. NHS boards will submit an annual report on progress against the actions outlined in these plans. This will be reported to the National Sexual Health Advisory Committee (NSHAC), and the Executive will then publish an annual progress report, with the first one due in the summer of 2006. These annual reviews will be complemented by a more comprehensive five-yearly review, carried out by NSHAC.

Sexual Health

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-23289 by Mr Andy Kerr on 28 February 2006, how many NHS boards have provided postal testing kits for chlamydia.

Margaret Jamieson (Kilmarnock and Loudoun) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-23289 by Mr Andy Kerr on 28 February 2006, what methods of distribution have been undertaken by NHS boards which have decided to provide STI diagnostic kits.

Mr Andy Kerr: This is a matter for the NHS boards. The information requested is not held centrally.

  However, the national sexual health strategy, Respect and Responsibility, contains actions for the Scottish Executive Health Department to consider the potential of development and testing of STI diagnostic testing kits in rural and urban settings. It also tasks the department with considering the potential extension of the chlamydia postal testing kit in the light of the evaluation of the Healthy Respect initiative. Scottish Executive officials are actively pursuing these actions with key stakeholders and will report progress to the National Sexual Health Advisory Committee.

  It is our intention to ensure that where boards do want to use postal testing kits they are made available in a cost effective way, through bulk and shared purchasing. The Executive is planning to provide a seminar for lead clinicians on the results of the Chlamydia Postal Testing Kit, to help them assess the suitability of the kits for their service provision.

Skye Bridge

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive why the concessionaire’s name, Skye Bridge Ltd, as at May 1993 was not announced by the Secretary of State in a published document, given that one of the purposes of the Skye Bridge assignation statement was to identify the concessionaire to the public.

Tavish Scott: I am advised that the then Scottish Office position was that the Skye Bridge Assignation Statement correctly identified the proposed concessionaire at the time it was made available for public inspection. There was no statutory requirement to update the statement, nor to publish the change of concessionaire’s name.

Skye Bridge

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive what the value was of the first share issue, as identified in the statutory assignation statement made in relation to the A87 Skye Bridge crossing.

Tavish Scott: This is a matter for the concessionaire, Skye Bridge Limited. Copies of the company’s annual Directors Report and Financial Statements are available from Companies House.

Skye Bridge

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive whether Miller Civil Engineering Limited or Miller Bhuideann Limited were members of the Skye Bridge PFI consortium.

Tavish Scott: No. Miller Civil Engineering Limited, and its successor Miller (Bhuideann) Limited, formed part of the joint venture company Miller Dywidag, which constructed, maintained and operated the crossing under contract to the concessionaire, Skye Bridge Limited (SBL).

Skye Bridge

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S1W-8363 by Sarah Boyack on 18 July 2000, what the purpose was of the assignation statement in relation to the Skye Bridge toll order, given the statement by the then Minister for Transport that it was not a probative document.

Tavish Scott: I refer the member to the answer to question S2W-21510 on 19 December 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

Skye Bridge

Carolyn Leckie (Central Scotland) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive, given that the assignation statement in relation to the Skye Bridge toll order bears no year of issue, when it was made and how that is confirmed.

Tavish Scott: I refer the member to the answer to questions S2W-15739 and S2W-15741 on 26 April 2005. All answers to written parliamentary questions are available on the Parliament’s website, the search facility for which can be found at http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/webapp/wa.search .

Smoking

Brian Adam (Aberdeen North) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many (a) retailers and (b) licensees have been prosecuted for selling tobacco products to under age customers in each year since 1999, broken down by local authority area.

Cathy Jamieson: The available information is given in the following table. No breakdown of these figures into prosecutions of retailers and licensees is available from the data held centrally. The court proceedings statistics for 2004-05 are planned for publication in spring 2006.

  Persons Proceeded Against for Selling Tobacco to Persons Under 161, by Local Authority Area 1999-2003

  

 Local Authority Area
 1999
 2000
 2001
 2002
 2003


 Aberdeenshire 
 2
 -
 -
 -
 1


 Edinburgh, City of 
 1
 -
 -
 -
 2


 North Lanarkshire 
 -
 -
 1
 -
 -


 Renfrewshire 
 1
 -
 -
 -
 -


 Scotland
 4
 -
 1
 -
 3



  Note: 1. Where main offence.

Social Work

Tommy Sheridan (Glasgow) (SSP): To ask the Scottish Executive how many social workers are employed by each local authority; what full-time equivalent shortages exist in each local authority; how many social workers are due to retire in the next five years; how many individuals are currently training to become social workers, and what action the Executive is taking to promote social work positively as a profession.

Robert Brown: The number of social workers employed by local authorities and the number of vacancies as at January 2006 is available at: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/02/06165620/0 .

  It is not possible to state how many social workers will retire over the next five years as this is a matter for employers and individual employees. Latest figures for the age profile of social workers are available in table 14 of the following publication: http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2005/06/22115335/53364.

  Latest figures indicate there are currently 2200 people studying for a social work qualification in Scotland. The Executive has been promoting social work as part of the Care in Scotland recruitment and profile raising campaign since 2002. It is also funding a Social Work Fast Track Graduate Scheme which will produce around 380 new social workers between 2005 and 2008.

Special Educational Needs

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-23151 by Robert Brown on 3 March 2006, why the President of the Additional Support Needs Tribunals was required to publish her biographical details, qualifications and registered interests, while the conveners and members of the tribunals are not required to publish such information.

Robert Brown: There is no requirement for the President, conveners or members to publish biographical details, qualifications and registered interests. Given the high profile of the President, the Scottish Executive published this information for general interest.

Special Educational Needs

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-23153 by Robert Brown on 3 March 2006, in what capacity the 73% of members of the Additional Support Needs Tribunals were, or are currently, employed by or contracted to a local authority.

Robert Brown: The 73% (11 out of 15) of members of the Additional Support Needs Tribunals were, or are currently, employed by or contracted to a local authority in the following capacities.

  Three are currently employed by local authorities, two as educational psychologists and one as a manager of children’s services.

  Four are independent consultants, working with local authorities and others. They have local authority management and-or teaching backgrounds.

  The remaining four members have previously been employed in local authority management (two) and teaching (two).

Special Educational Needs

Lord James Douglas-Hamilton (Lothians) (Con): To ask the Scottish Executive, further to the answer to question S2W-23153 by Robert Brown on 3 March 2006, what safeguards exist to ensure that the 73% of members of the Additional Support Needs Tribunals who are currently, or have been, employed by or contracted to a local authority in some capacity will not participate in any reference made by a parent against a local authority by which that member was, or is currently, employed or contracted.

Robert Brown: The President has taken steps to ensure that decisions taken by the Additional Support Needs Tribunals will conform to the rules of natural justice and fair hearing in respect of the allegiances of members. For example, induction training for members included guidance on the circumstances in which they should decline to sit on particular cases. The obligation is on the member to disclose any potential conflict.

  The guidance given by the President, is that it is not appropriate for members to participate in any reference made by a parent against a local authority by which that member is currently employed or contracted. Where that member was previously employed or contracted to the local authority, guidance should be sought from the President, who will consider the facts and circumstances of each case, before deciding if it is appropriate for a member to sit on a tribunal.

  The governing principle, which is in each member’s terms and conditions, is that a member should not take on any reference or sit at a Tribunal in any circumstances, which would lead an objective onlooker with knowledge of all the material facts reasonably to suspect that the person might be biased.

Tourism

Shiona Baird (North East Scotland) (Green): To ask the Scottish Executive what support might be available to assist trust ports, such as Montrose Port, in attracting international cruise ships.

Tavish Scott: We recognise the potential role of the cruise sector in bringing visitors to Scotland, and VisitScotland is commissioning research to assess the market for and the potential economic benefits of cruise tourism to Scotland. They expect a summary of the findings from this research to be available by the middle of 2007. Some local authorities and ports are already active in marketing opportunities with the cruise liner industry, and can access a variety of funding sources from the enterprise network.

Transport

Jim Mather (Highlands and Islands) (SNP): To ask the Scottish Executive what measures were used to determine the benefit of the use of aid of a social character to reduce fares for island residents compared with the introduction of public service obligations to reduce fares for all island travellers.

Tavish Scott: Between February 2003 and July 2005 a series of studies were commissioned to assess options for improving air services and reducing fares within the Highlands and Islands. These included implementation of a comprehensive network of routes attracting "aid of a social character" or controlled by public service obligations (PSOs).

  I have decided to use "aid of a social character". This flexible approach maximises value for money; ensures that benefits go straight to the traveller; works with the market, thus avoiding the need to provide subsidies to airlines in areas where services can be provided commercially and would allow competition where it exists, to be maintained, and ensures that the aid provided is targeted at the individuals and communities that need it most.

Transport

Dr Elaine Murray (Dumfries) (Lab): To ask the Scottish Executive whether the SCOTSIM training programme is offered to truck drivers over the age of 50 and what the reasons are for the position on this matter.

Tavish Scott: No upper age restrictions have been placed on the age of trainees - it is important for the aims of the research project to assess the effectiveness of training by simulation across a range of different driving conditions and environments, and age groups of drivers.